


our hearts' mysteries

by sssssssim



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-04-01 02:29:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4002463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sssssssim/pseuds/sssssssim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a fix-it fic, set after 2x22, that completely ignores what we know that rock is. <br/><b>Jemma is gone for a month, and when she wakes up, she's in Asgard. </b></p>
            </blockquote>





	our hearts' mysteries

**Author's Note:**

> Things just happen, and I just wake up writing 14k of fitzsimmons because why the fuck not.   
> ... This doesn't make a lot of sense, really. And the plot, it's not so much there.   
> But my babies are lovely, even when they're angsty and without one another.   
> As I said, it's a fix-it fic, that starts out hella bad, and works it's way to being hella cute. But, like most of the things I write, the ending feels a bit rushed, but I couldn't come up with something better.  
> Oops. Anyway. Enjoy.

 

He didn’t panic. Even though it’s been hours, and Simmons still hadn’t come by to talk about their… date (it’s going to take a while, for Fitz to be able to say that in a straight voice, even if he was only saying it in his head).

But at 2am, after sitting in his bunker for hours, staring at the ceiling and doubting himself, doubting Jemma, doubting everything, after calling her phone and not getting an answer, Fitz caved.

Because she was the one who took the first step this time around. And after everything that happened, if there was only one thing that Fitz was sure of, he was sure that he _knew_ Jemma. So he knew, that even if she had changed her mind, she would have told him.

So it was 2 am, and Fitz walked determinately to the kitchen, where he knew he’d find someone.

And, sure enough, Skye and Mack were both there.

‘I need your help’, he said without preamble. ‘Jemma’s not answering her phone.’

‘It’s 2 am, Fitz’, Skye rolled her eyes. ‘She’s probably asleep.’

‘She hasn’t been answering her phone for hours’, Fitz insisted. ‘And she was supposed to come and find me after she was done with work.’

Skye and Mack shared a look. He opened his mouth to say something, but when he turned to look at Fitz, for the first time since he came into the kitchen, Mack snapped his mouth shut with a pop.

‘You’re looking pretty pale there, Turbo’, he finally said, concern evident.

‘It was…’, Fitz tried. ‘Jemma wouldn’t… This, -this… It was important. She wouldn’t have… Something’s wrong.’

That made both Skye and Mack spring into action. Mack got a tablet and Skye pulled up the video footage of the room Fitz last saw Jemma in.

♡

Judging by the way Skye took a step back from him, and Mack took a step towards him, they probably thought Fitz was going to react badly.

Scream, maybe? Trash everything and everyone around? Punch a wall? Start crying?

Fitz did none of these things.

He took a deep breath, curled his fingers into his palm and willed his brain to function properly.

‘Skye, go get Coulson. Mack, I’m going to need your help to carry more equipment into the room.’

He turned around and didn’t wait for their answers. He felt Mack falling into step behind him a couple of moments later, so he assumed Skye was on her way to wake Coulson up.

♡

When Skye came to the room of the rock case with Coulson and May in toe, Fitz was already half way through reading Simmons’ preliminary tests on the artifact.

Fitz started explaining, what he knew, what he found out, what he planned on doing next. He didn’t need to say it out loud, that they _had_ to get Simmons back.

They were all staring at him as he spoke. Fitz understood it, because he didn’t seem to be able to stop talking.

He didn’t stutter. Not once. But he also couldn’t stop to think about the importance of that.

So he got to work, barely waiting for Coulson’s nod of approval.

♡

The first week after Jemma was taken, Fitz did a lot of things.

For one, he never stopped moving. He didn’t stop working, doing anything he could think of, in order to get her back.

He didn’t speak a lot. Only when it was needed, when he had to explain something, or when he told the other scientists around him what to do. But when he spoke, he never lost his words, and he never stumbled over them.

The only reason he remembered to eat was because Mack and Skye took turns shoving sandwiches in his face.

He didn’t sleep more than 2 hours at a time.

Fitz barely breathed, really.

But he hurt, a lot. There was a deep, dark hole, in the place where his soul used to be.

He didn’t shed a tear.

♡

The second week after Jemma was taken, Fitz had to take pills to knock himself out, just to get the hours of sleep his body craved.

He talked even less.

Mack and Skye were still making him eat.

Coulson kept shooting him concerned looks every time they crossed paths.

Fitz realized he was bad when May all but shoved him into his room, forcing him to shower. She stayed there until he came out of the bathroom, glared at him until he ate a plate of food and didn’t leave until he fell asleep.

He still didn’t cry.

It was getting harder for him to say her name.

♡

30 days after Jemma was taken, Bobbi went home.

She was concerned about Jemma, everybody was, but she needed time to rest and heal. And she needed Hunter by her side. So they were both leaving, and Fitz was there to see them off.

‘Sorry, mate’, Hunter looked at him, ‘but you look like crap.’

‘I feel like crap too’, Fitz didn’t miss a beat in answering.

Hunter still looked at him, stared, really, with a critic eye.

‘It was Simmons, wasn’t it?’, he asked, ignoring the fact that they were in a room filled with their team. ‘The girl you told how you felt and-‘

‘Yeah’, Fitz surprised himself by cutting him off. ‘We were at the bottom of the ocean, and I kinda died after that and she kinda saved me.’

He didn’t need to look around to know that everybody was staring at him. He heard Skye gasp.

‘Except that she did feel the same,’, his tone grew harsher, ‘and she finally told me and then got herself eaten by a bloody rock from hell.’

When Fitz looked up, Hunter was looking at him with his jaw slightly dropped. The women in the room were looking at him in pity, Coulson  looked concerned and Mack was looking, seemingly emotionless, at the floor.

‘If you’ll excuse me’, he finally breathed, ‘I haven’t slept in 83 hours. I’m gonna pass out.’

He turned around, took two steps, and stopped.

‘Get well soon, Bobbi’, he said as softly as he could manage, before all but running to his room.

♡

Fitz collapsed on the bed, curled into a ball and started crying.

For the first time in a month.

When Skye came in, shutting the door behind her, he managed to tell her to leave.

She didn’t. Instead, she sat down on the floor next to his bed, facing him, and she put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Fitz fell asleep an hour later, tears on his face, Skye’s hand in his hair and with the horrible feeling that he wasn’t ever going to be hole again.

♡

When Jemma woke up, she didn’t manage to get her bearings together. She saw the rock and ran.

It was only after she was out of the room the rock was in that she realized something was not right.

This wasn’t Shield.

If she was right, this wasn’t even Earth.

There was a lot of gold, high arches and columns. And a large man running towards her, in an intricate armor that glinted in the light, his hand on a sword.

‘Who are you?’, the man pointed the tip of his sward straight at her neck, forcing her back to hit a wall.

‘Where am I?’, she managed to rasp out.

That made the man pause.

‘You are in Asgard. In the Great Palace.’

‘Oh!’, Jemma yelped, feeling just a tad relived. ‘Asgard, great. Please, may I speak to Lady Sif?’

‘Who are you?’, the man repeated in an even colder voice, making Jemma falter.

‘Please, I’m from Earth. I don’t know how I got here, please let me speak to Lady Sif, she knows me.’

‘What is Earth?’

‘Midgard. Please, I-‘

‘What’s going on here?’, a new voice said sternly, and when Jemma looked to the side, she breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Thank god. Thor. I-‘

‘Who are you?’, the god asked in a cold voice.

Jemma was struggling not to cry by this point, and there was still a sward digging into her neck, awfully close to her carotid artery.

‘My name is Jemma Simmons, I work for Shield.’

‘There is no more Shield’, Thor said, a darkness over clouding his features, and the man pushed the sword just a bit harder.

‘There is’, she tried explaining. ‘We’ve been building it back up, properly this time, and-‘

‘We?’, Thor asked, pointedly. The soldier once again pushed the sword harder against her neck, and she could feel a small streak of blood pouring down her neck.

‘Coulson.’, she breathed out.

‘He’s-‘

‘He’s not dead!’, Jemma interrupted Thor, desperation seeping through. ‘Fury saved him, but they didn’t want the Avengers to know. I’ve been part of his team since he made it, and we’ve fought Hydra when Captain Rogers shot the hellicariers down and we kept one and fixed it and Fury gave it to you in Sokovia.’

Thor didn’t say anything.

‘Please’, she wasn’t above begging. ‘Lady Sif knows me, she’s been to Earth, we’ve worked with her.’

Thor spared a glance at the soldier. He nodded, and the man took away the sward.

Jemma fell to the floor, clutching at her neck.

After she took a few large gulps of breaths, she looked up to see Thor watching her coldly.

‘How did you get here?’

That’s when Jemma remembered.

‘The rock’, she breathed out. ‘It … took me inside of it.’

Thor merely raised his eyebrows at that.

‘I don’t know’, Jenna shook her head. ‘I don’t know anything.’

There were footsteps coming quickly in their direction, and before Jemma could turn her head, she was faced with Lady Sif, who had already grabbed her off the ground.

‘Doctor Simmons’, Sif said concerned, ‘what happened?’

‘The bloody rock ate me!’, Jemma spit out, ‘And I woke up here! I don’t know what’s happening and I-‘

She cut herself off, as a wave of … something sped through her.

‘I don’t feel so good’, she managed to breathe out. She saw Thor dart forward towards her, she felt Sif’s hands tightening on her, and she passed out, whimpering.

♡

When Jemma woke up again, she was on a very soft bed, in a very luxurious room.

Thor and Sif were by the side of the bed.

‘You were dehydrated and underfed’, Sif told her. ‘Our healers made you well. You have been asleep for two days.’

Jemma swallowed. ‘Two days?’

Sif smiled, just a small twitch of her lips. ‘I assume you’re eager to get back to Midgard.’

‘Very much so’, Jemma didn’t miss a beat in answering, pushing herself up and ignoring the embarrassment that went through her when she realized she couldn’t stand on her own legs, not just yet. So she sat on the edge of the bed, biting on her lower lip.

‘What is that thing?’, she asked finally. ‘How did I get here?’

‘It’s an old artifact of Asgardian history’, Thor said, slowly.

‘That opens bridges to other words?’, Jemma frowned. ‘Like what, like teleportation? Worm holes?’

Thor narrowed his eyes.

‘I thought only Heimdall could control who comes in and out of Asgard.’, Jemma continued, turning back to look at Sif. ‘A rock turned to some sort of liquid and … ate me and I wake up here? Dehydrated and underfed? How long was I out? What happened when I was in there? Was I even in there at all? I-‘

‘Doctor’, Sif interrupted somewhat softly. ‘Maybe if you’d stop talking nonsense, Thor would explain.’

She blushed, turning to look sheepishly at Thor. ‘I’m sorry.’

He smiled. ‘As I was saying, it’s an old artifact of Asgardian history, that was used in the first wars. They’re called The Stones of Prey.’

‘So there’s two of them’, Jemma nodded, slowly. ‘One here and one on Earth.’

Thor nodded. ‘We didn’t know where the second one was. It was lost over the years.’

‘Stone of Prey’, Jemma frowned. ‘What does that mean?’

‘It was used to find the weaknesses of the people Asgard wanted to conquer.’, Thor explained. ‘The second rock would be sent, it would capture a local, analyze him, and send him and the information back to us.’

‘Analyze?’, Jemma stiffened.

‘Rest assured, Dr. Simmons’, Thor smirked easily, ‘nobody shall read the information. We know humans quite well by now.’

Jemma laughed a bit, gathering the strength to ask the next question.

‘How long have I been in there?’

Thor hesitated. ‘We have no way of knowing.’

Jemma sighed, deeply. ‘It’s really not a good time for me to be missing.’

‘Lady Sif shall escort you back to Midgard’, Thor smiled brightly. ‘And she shall bring the other Stone here, where it won’t bring you any more trouble.’

Jemma nodded, relieved. ‘Thank you.’

‘Send my regards to Son of Coul.’, Thor said, making her giggle.

♡

Jemma couldn’t help but linger at the entrance of the Bifrost.

‘This is breathtaking’.

‘Because of the science of it or because of the beauty?’

Jemma scoffed at Heimdall. ‘The science is explicable. Even if I’m not advanced enough to understand it, it is something that can be explained. There’s no explanation for beauty.’

The god laughed, loud and strong. ‘Thor keeps surprising me, with the odd women he brings to Asgard.’

‘Doctor Foster is not odd’, Jemma scoffed again. ‘She is a brilliant scientist and she has proved, time and time again, that she is a very strong woman.’

Heimdall didn’t answer. His eyes shone bright gold for a second.

‘It is time for you to leave’, he told Jemma with a hint of softness in his voice. ‘You are needed.’

She didn’t get to answer that, as Sif grabbed her hand and guided her.

♡

They landed in front of the door to the Playground. There was a chill outside, and the sun was long gone. There were three different guards who had their guns trained on them.

‘Oh shit’, one of them said after a few beats, reaching for his ear. ‘Doctor Simmons is here. With… an Asgardian. I think. Tell the Director.’

‘They won’t let us in immediately’, Jemma told Sif. ‘Protocols and all.’

It was only a minute later when Coulson ran out through the door, Skye and May close behind. They all looked like they were sleeping, in pajamas and with ruffled hair.

But Jemma still noticed. That Coulson looked a lot tired than she was used to seeing him, that Skye had a few streaks of bright blonde hair, and that May had a significant amount of bruises on her face. Bruises that weren’t there when Jemma last saw her, bruises that looked like they were already healing.

Jemma’s heart started beating faster. ‘How long was I gone?’

They all hesitated, but it was May that answered, telling her that she's been missing for a month.

Jemma’s heart broke. And she only had one answer to that.

‘Oh, Fitz.’

♡

They took her straight to the med wing, de-briefing her on the way.

Telling her that she has been gone for 34 days, that they never stopped looking, searching ways to bring her back. That Fitz never stopped.

She wanted to see him, she really did, but she didn’t say anything. Skye saw right through her.

‘The reason why Fitz isn’t here’, Skye told her in somewhat of a whisper ‘is because he took sleeping pills. It’s the only way he can rest now, and he’s only doing it every other day. Even if we tried to wake him up…’, she shrugged, and Jemma felt a cold shiver run through her body.

Coulson snapped her out of it.

‘What happened to you? How did you end up with Lady Sif?’

Jemma took a deep breath, and as doctors fussed around her, drawing blood and doing tests, she and Lady Sif explained everything.

♡

By the time the debrief was done, the tests came back well and Lady Sif was back on her way to Asgard with the Stone, it was close to ten am.

Jemma was exhausted and hungry, she was craving a grilled cheese sandwich and she had a headache.

But all she wanted to do was to go and see Fitz.

And once again, Skye knew what she was thinking.

‘It wasn’t good, Simmons. He kept it together for a long time, functioning. In a very wrong way, but he was functioning.’, Skye said around a wince. ‘But a couple of days ago, he lost it.’

‘Bad?’, Jemma whispered.

Skye nodded. ‘He scared me. It wasn’t violent, it was just… he just broke. Completely. I didn’t leave his side.’

‘Thank you’, Jemma said quickly, without even thinking. It made Skye smile.

‘Fitz has been up for a couple of hours.’, she smirked. ‘Nobody told him anything.’

Jemma smiled. ‘Where can I find him?’

‘The kitchen.’, Skye winked at her. Jemma barely muttered her thanks before she took off running.

♡

Fitz looked awful. He lost weight, there were big dark bags under his eyes and his lips were very chapped. His hair was a mess, a lot worse than before, his stubble was thicker than ever and his clothes were wrinkled.

He didn’t see her, so Jemma just stood there for a while, watching him.

Fitz was making tea, and while he waited for the water to boil, he just… stood there. Completely still, except for his left hand, where his fingers were clenching and unclenching into a fist. It wasn’t a tremor, like he still got from time to time, no, this was a controlled movement.

It scared her, because Fitz was never this still. Even when he was at his lowest, when his brain was sick, he was always moving. Explaining with his hands, shaking his head, shuffling his feet.

Now, he stood there, looking down at the kettle, completely still. Jemma couldn’t stand it.

She must have made some sort of noise, because Fitz’s head snapped violently towards her. When his eyes landed on her, he gasped and took a small step back.

Jemma didn’t know what to say. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest, she couldn’t breathe properly and there were tears in her eyes.

‘You’re back?’, Fitz asked slowly, almost mechanically.

She could only nod, and bite on her lower lip to keep from whimpering.

‘And you’re okay?’, his voice broke over the last word, as his eyes were ranking over her body.

‘Yes’, Jemma managed to say. ‘I’m okay.’

And then, Fitz was moving. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of her, and before Jemma could even think, he had his hands wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

She didn’t hesitate in burring her face in the crook of his neck, and she didn’t hesitate in fisting her hands in the back of his sweater.

They stayed like that for a while. Jemma cried, and Fitz held her through it, shushing and comforting her.

By the time the kettle started wheezing, she was calm enough, to take a step back, wipe away her tears and even smile up at Fitz. A smile he quickly returned, which only made her smile wider.

Fitz made them tea, and they sat down in the kitchen for a while, Jemma telling him, briefly, about what happened. Fitz didn’t say anything. He just drank his tea, not once taking his eyes off her.

‘I missed you, Jemma’, he whispered softly when she stopped talking.

Something so very incredibly warm bloomed in Jemma’s chest, and she smiled. Which, after a while, developed into a somewhat broken chuckle.

‘Oh, Fits’, she said, shaking her head. ‘You always end up taking the short straw, don’t you?’

He frowned, and adverted his eyes. ‘What does that mean?’

‘It means that I was asleep, while you had to live for a month, thinking that I-‘

‘Yeah’, Fitz cut her off. ‘Yeah, that’s what happened, that’s exactly what happened.’

He took a deep, shaky breath. ‘It wasn’t nice. You’re not allowed to do that again.’

She knew she couldn’t promise him that, as much as she wanted to. And he knew it too, because he tilted his head to the side and sighed.

‘You should sleep’.

‘Yes’, Jemma nodded. ‘I’m exhausted.’

Fitz all but carried her to her room. It was surprisingly clean and dust-free, considering nobody had lived in it for the past month. But by the way Fitz blushed, it was clear that he kept it clean.

‘Shower?’, he asked softly, and Jemma nodded, heading towards her dresser.

She grabbed pajamas and one of Fitz’s old sweaters, one that she stole from him years ago, that was once a bright blue.

He was still there when she came out of the bathroom, in front of the door, looking at the collage of pictures she had made on the back of it. There were mostly pictures of them , some of her parents, and a few with the team.

Jemma called his name softly, and he wordlessly went to the bed, pulling the covers and he tucked her in.

He lingered before he left, crouching in front of the bed, his hand resting on her shoulder.

‘Thank you’, Jemma felt the need to tell him.

Fitz just shook his head, squeezed her shoulder once more, and softly shut the door behind him.

♡

Coulson demanded she'd take a few days off.

But after four days of catching up on Doctor Who and re-reading all the Harry Potter books, Simmons was bored.

And more than ready to go back to work. When she went into the lab and found Fitz there, he quickly put her up to date with all he’s been doing in the last month, and explained his current project.

They quickly fell back into their routine. Their initial routine, of working side by side, of teasing and warm cup of teas, or finishing each other’s sentences and shoulders always brushing.

Jemma felt like they were back at SciOps. It was a marvelous feeling.

♡

‘You’re better’, she told him a couple of days later, over a cup of tea late in the night. ‘I mean, you still look like you need a chocolate cake and I know you’re still not sleeping well, but…’

He didn’t say anything, raising an eyebrow to prompt her to continue.

‘You don’t forget words that often anymore.’, she said, hesitantly. ‘You still stumble upon them, but it’s less frequent. And your hand is… a lot better.’

‘Do you think that my brain just needed a jump start?’, he asked her quickly. ‘Like, sometimes, in people with amnesia, some shrinks believe that they need a… something, from their past. An object, a place, an emotion. To… jump start the brain and-‘

‘Bring back the memories.’, she finished for him. ‘It’s possible, so you-‘

‘I didn’t react’, Fitz shook his head. ‘At first, after I saw the footage. I didn’t scream, cry, panic, anything. I just took a deep breath and thought of a plan. And I explained the plan, perfectly, without losing a single word.’

Simmons swallowed, her brain going a mile a minute, but for once, she didn’t voice her thoughts.

‘Instantly’, Fitz said, somewhat reverently.

‘The brain is still a mystery’, Jemma found herself saying. ‘Yes, we know the biology of it, the medicine, the connections that form between neurons. But to explain how those impulses become thoughts… that’s still virtually impossible.’

‘So what you’re saying’, Fitz smirked a bit, ‘is that you have no explanation.’

‘Not a valid one, no.’, she returned the smile.

‘But’, Fitz went on after a moment, ‘that doesn’t really matter now, does it?’

‘No, it doesn’t.’, she agreed. ‘I’m glad, though.’

‘But you understand, right?’, Fitz turned serious, ‘That even though I’m almost back the way I was, I’ll never be… back the way I was?’

Jemma nodded. ‘People change. That’s normal, that’s what happens as we grow old.’

‘I’m not old’, he scoffed. ‘It’s not a question about getting old. It’s about experience.’

‘The things we’ve been through, Fitz…’, she shook her head. ‘We’re never going to be the same.’

‘I’m-‘, he took a deep breath. ‘Oddly fine with that.’

Jemma smiled, giving into the urge to hug him. He seemed surprised, but didn’t hesitate long until returning the hug.

‘We’re okay, right?’, she felt the need to ask.

He let go of her then, and for a few long moment, Fitz just looked at her, his eyes skipping all over her face.

‘I don’t think I’d be able to live if we weren’t.’

Somehow, that made her feel lighter.

♡

The dreams started a few days later.

At first, Jemma just saw hallways. Luxurious hallways, filled with people with no faces. It was a no brainer, she was dreaming about Asgard.

It disturbed her, but she didn’t think it was important.

But a month after she came back, she dreamt about Thor and Odin, who were in the throne room, arguing over something.

It was a very detailed dream. Incredibly detailed, down to the swirls at the top of the columns and the brodery on Odin’s robes. Jemma never saw Odin, but she dreamt about his face, and it was as clear at day.

And the perspective of the dream was Thor’s. She never saw Thor, because she was Thor. Speaking in his voice, and Jemma had no control over his words, but she was seeing everything through his eyes.

It didn’t make any sense. And Simmons didn’t like things that didn’t make sense.

♡

Fitz’s first reaction was one of concern, but it was easily surpassed by the science.

‘Maybe the Stone formed a connection.’, he said.

‘It's possible.', Jemma nodded. ‘But what kind of connection? Are these hallucinations? Are they just dreams, or-‘

‘Or did they really happen?’, Fitz finished. ‘Wow.’

‘I can’t run tests’, she went on. ‘I’m clinically fine, there aren’t any changes in my body, in my brain. I don’t know what I could do.’

‘We need someone who knows more than us.’

‘Sif and Thor weren’t forthcoming with the science behind the Stone. I’m not even sure they knew much, because Thor kept insisting on how old the technology was.’

‘But he might.’, Fitz insisted. ‘Odin might.’

‘So what?’, Jemma frowned. ‘We don’t have any way on contacting Asgard.’

‘No, but we have Coulson. And he can contact the Avengers, who might be able to contact Thor.’

‘I don’t know, Fitz’, she hesitated. ‘It may be nothing. And we’d just bother-‘

‘But it may be something’, he said strongly. ‘There may be something wrong with you, and we need information.’

The power in his voice startled Simmons. But it also gave her enough courage to talk with Coulson. That, and Fitz being by her side as she spoke.

♡

Coulson didn’t say anything on the subject, but a week later, a large shipment of Stark Industries tech came to the headquarters.

Simmons and Fitz were too excited about the new toys to keep pestering Coulson for updates.

Her dreams evolved, though. Slowly, but steady. They grew even more detailed, and longer. It felt stronger, somehow, this connection with Thor, and the dreams always happened when he was in the middle of conversations. Important conversations, that she didn’t understand fully.

She shared every dream with Fitz, of course she did, and he genuinely juggled with the idea of transforming them into a comic book. Jemma just rolled her eyes.

♡

‘Doctor Simmons?’, a gruff voice asked, accompanied by a knock at the lab door.

She turned around, and yelped.

Bruce Banner and Steve Rogers were standing at the entrance of the lab, looking at her expectedly.

She yelped again, which turned into an embarrassing squeal of delight. Jemma was blushing furiously, she knew, and she had to hide her face in her hands.

Fitz started laughing. Pretty hysterically. Her eyes snapped to him instantly, because she hadn’t heard that sound in what seemed like forever.

‘Oh, Simmons’, he managed to wheeze out. ‘I haven’t seen you fangirl this hard since we went to that Stephen Hawking lecture in senior year.’

Suddenly, Jemma was mortified. Banner and Rogers were looking at her with part amusement, part embarrassment.

‘I am so sorry’, she said. ‘It’s… really nice to meet you. What are you doing here?’

Their eyes skipped to Fitz.

‘This is Leopold Fitz, he-‘

‘We know’, Rogers said, slowly. ‘But we’d like to talk to you in private, Doctor.’

Simmons frowned. ‘That’s ridiculous, I tell Fitz everything.’

She blushed immediately, while Fitz snorted. The two other men just looked amused.

‘Alright then.’, Banner said, stepping further into the laboratory, and peeking curiously at the first samples he laid his eyes on.

‘Coulson informed us of your situation’, Rogers said in a professional tone. ‘About your supposed connection to Thor.’

‘That’s a bit much’, Simmons shrugged. ‘I don’t know if that’s what it is.’

‘What do you know about the Stones?’, Banner asked.

‘Not a lot.’, it was Fitz that answered. ‘It turned to liquid, enveloped her and she woke up a month later in Asgard, next to another stone. Thor said that the stones gathered information about her while she was inside, but he didn’t explain how.’

‘Interesting’, Banner nodded. ‘And you weren’t conscious?’

‘No’, she replied. ‘And I woke up dehydrated and malnourished, but not…’

‘You shouldn’t have survived a month without food or water.’, Banner completed.

Skye came barging into the lab, then. They all startled, turning to look at her.

‘So it’s true.’, she said excitedly.

‘Not the time, Skye’, Fitz said somewhat sternly. ‘Private conversation and all.’

She didn’t even look at him, her eyes kept darting between Banner and Rogers.

‘I’ll be back later’, she finally said, a distinct hint of warning in her voice.

‘Are all of you… like that?’, Banner asked.

Fitz snorted again. ‘Well, she’s half alien. The rest of us are human.’

Banner opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to decide against it.

‘Back to Thor.’, Rogers said pointedly.

‘I don’t know, Captain’, Simmons shrugged. ‘I don’t know if my dreams are real or not. They’re incredibly detailed, things I shouldn’t know, things I never heard, things that don’t really make sense to me, things my imagination shouldn’t be able to concoct.’

‘Is there any way to determine whether or not what you see is real?’, the captain asked, looking to Banner.

‘Not if you don’t have a way to contact Thor’, Fitz said.

Simmons hesitated, but Rogers saw it.

‘What, doctor?’

‘I’ve heard things’, she finally said. ‘Conversations I didn’t understand. But, uhm. I have the impression that… you might.’

‘Like what?’, Banner said.

She hesitated, again, looking to Fitz. He smiled at her, and nodded, taking a step closer to her.

So Jemma took a deep breath and looked back to Captain America and The Hulk.

‘Vision.’, she said, making both of the men freeze. ‘An evolution of Jarvis, Tony Stark’s AI. In a … remarkably engineered body, with a…’, she frowned, ‘connection to the infinity stone that was in Loki’s scepter.’

The two men shared a look, while Fitz muttered ‘that makes no sense’ under his breath.

‘There is no way you could possibly know that.’, Rogers finally said. ‘There is no way that information got out.’

‘He picked up the hammer’, Jemma said, slowly.

The two men stared at her, so hard that she had to look away under their scrutiny.

‘You heard Thor speaking about this?’, Rogers finally asked.

Jemma nodded. ‘He was speaking with Lady Sif. He was… concerned. About the rest of the … Infinity stones. Which is a really depressing look for a god.’

Roger sighed, deeply, running a hand down his face.

‘I’ll speak with Coulson’, he finally said, then turning to Banner. ‘You deal with the…’, he waved a hand in the direction of the furthest glass wall, where quite a bunch of people gathered, Skye being front and centered.

‘Fangirls’, Fitz easily supplied. ‘And fanboys.’

Banner sighed. Jenna giggled, despite herself.

♡

An hour later, Coulson found them in the lab. Jemma was having a particularly entertaining conversation about the inhuman genes with Doctor Banner, while Fitz, Skye and Mack pretended to do something in the background.

Coulson came along with Rogers and May, smiling brightly.

‘Simmons, you’ll be going back with them to the Avengers hub.’

‘What?’, it was Fitz that said it.

‘They’ll be in contact with Thor and you’ll figure it out together.’

Jemma swallowed, her eyes moving instantly to Fitz.

‘May will be going with you’, Coulson went on.

‘Why? It’s not dangerous, is it?’, Skye asked.

‘No’, Rogers assured. ‘But Stark’s an asshole and he might be pissed Coulson didn’t tell us he was alive.’

Jemma still wasn’t convinced. It must have showed on her face, because Coulson smirked.

‘Fitz will also be going with you, because God knows you’re going to need all the help you can get.’

Banner raised an eyebrow at that. Rogers didn’t seem impressed.

She didn’t need to look at Fitz to know what he was thinking. But she did, and as she predicted, there was a glint in his eyes, of excitement. Something playful, almost childish. She had missed seeing it.

‘We’ll be ready in an hour.’, Jemma said, a hint of finality in her voice.

♡

During the flight to New York, Jemma’s nerves kept steadily going up. But Fitz was by her side, and he spent the time telling her all the Avengers jokes he knew, no matter how bad they were. It eased her mind, but she wasn’t sure if it was because of his voice or the heat radiating from his body.

♡

The first person they recognized once they stepped inside the facility was Fury.

Fitz froze beside her, so much that she had to stop walking. He grabbed her hand as Fury was approaching, so strong that her fingers hurt. She didn’t say a word.

‘Fitz, Simmons, May.’, Fury greeted them with a nod.

‘Sir’, Fitz said strongly. ‘Thank you.’

‘For what?’, the former director frowned.

‘For saving my life.’

Fury regarded him with a critical eye. ‘Well, your prototypes saved my life more than once in the field, I did owe you. And, from what I’ve heard, it wasn’t much of a save.’

‘I’m breathing, sir’, Fitz said after a beat. ‘And my brain still works.’ He shrugged after that, but Fury nodded.

‘We’ve prepared rooms. Be aware, though, Stark was in charge of interior design. Thor will be here tomorrow.’, Fury said looking at Simmons. ‘How are you holding up, Doctor?’

‘I’m fine, sir’, she blushed. ‘It’s… they’re just dreams.’

‘Then what’s all this fuss about?’, a new voice came, making Simmons sigh. ‘I’m sure a lot of people have wet dreams about Thor, what makes yours so special?’

‘Mr. Stark’, Jenna said, curtly.

‘What did I tell you about calling me Tony?’, he said, as cockily as possible.

‘That I should call you that the moment I come work for you. Which hasn’t happened, sir.’

The people around them were staring at her. Except Fitz, who was trying to bite down a laugh.

‘Oh, I’m sorry’, she turned towards Rogers and Banners. ‘Did I forget to mention that Mr. Stark is still bitter that Fitz and I didn’t come to work for him when we graduated?’

‘Honestly, it’s been years’, Fitz rolled his eyes. ‘You’d think we would have gotten over it by now.’

‘Fitz’, Stark said around a snarl. ‘I see the whole brain damage thing didn’t temper with your douchebagness.’

‘That’s not a word.’, Fitz rolled his eyes.

‘It is a word if I use it.’

Jemma sighed, looking in somewhat desperation at Fury.

‘You said something about rooms?’

♡

They were shown to a large apartment, that had a big livingroom with an equally large kitchen, and three bedrooms. It was… opulent.

May said she was going to take a look around, leaving Fitz and Simmons alone for the rest of the evening. Time they spent on the luxurious couch, watching Harry Potter on an enormous tv. Dinner was delivered by a person who didn’t even bother introducing themselves.

May came back to the apartment close to midnight, assuring them that everything was alright and locking herself in her room soon after.

3 am found Simmons in her room, wide awake. She was nervous, anxious, and the fact that she was in a place strange to her didn’t help.

She shouldn’t have been surprise when there was a knock on her door, and Fitz’s soft voice calling her name.

He was standing by the door in plaid pajama pants and a Batman t-shirt, anxiously wringing his fingers.

‘Are you nervous about tomorrow or you still can’t sleep normally?’

‘Both’, Fitz didn’t miss a beat in answering. But he wasn’t looking at her, he was staring down at his fingers.

So Jemma grabbed his hands, stilling them, making him look at her.

‘Wanna play 20 questions?’, she asked hesitantly.

Fitz frowned. ‘We haven’t done that since exam season at the Acadamy.’

‘Well, to be fair’, she smiled, ‘it wouldn’t be like that, because we don’t have an exam we’re studying for.’

‘You wanna play 20 questions for real?’, Fitz asked incredulously. He didn’t take his hands out of her hold.

‘It’s either that, or we watch really bad late night American television.’

 _All televisions are equipped with Netflix_ , Friday’s voice came from the ceiling, startling both of them.

‘Thank you, Friday’, Fitz said after a beat. ‘But apparently, we’d rather play a stupid teenager’s game.’

Jemma grinned.

♡

They did fall asleep eventually, after more than 20 questions, that kept getting more and more idiotic with every turn. Jemma doesn’t remember all of it, but she knows she told Fitz the story about the first boy she kissed, and Jemma will never forget Fitz talking about the time he got Mack incredibly drunk.

She didn’t feel weird, when she realized that Fitz wasn’t planning on going back to his room. But, to be fair, she was half asleep already.

♡

They were woken up by May, who barged into the bedroom. She didn’t look impressed, as they untangled themselves.

‘It’s almost noon’, May told them. ‘You have an hour to eat something and get dressed.’

As if on cue, Fitz's stomach rumbled. May just rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. Jemma giggled, though.

♡

They were directed to a large room, where Captain Rogers, Thor and a woman she didn’t recognize were already waiting.

Thor bid Simmons a polite hello, telling her that they will solve this issue. Then, he turned to Fitz, slapping him on the back.

‘Fitz!’, he exclaimed, brightly. ‘I am delighted to see you doing well.’

Fitz’s eyes grew wide and Jemma’s jaw dropped.

‘Well? See me doing well?’, Fitz asked, slowly. ‘I… we haven’t met.’

‘But I have seen you through Doctor Simmons’ eyes.’, Thor frowned.

Jemma yelped.

‘Was this not clear?’, Thor turned to look at her. ‘That the connection is both ways?’

She shook her head. ‘I wasn’t aware of that. I wasn’t even sure there was a connection.’

‘We have much to discuss, then.’, Thor smiled.

Jemma shared a look with Fitz. This was going to be a long day.

♡

‘You must understand’, Thor said for what felt like the billionth time. ‘I wasn’t aware of this when you were on Asgard.’

‘Let me see if I understood this’, Captain Rogers said. ‘The Stones were designed to form a connection, between the person they took in…’

‘And the ruler of Asgard,’, Fitz finished his sentence. ‘the person becoming a spy for the ruler.’

‘But, if that’s the case’, Simmons frowned, ‘and no offence to you, Thor, why you? Why not your father?’

‘My father is King, yes, but the one who is worthy of the hammer is the true Ruler of Asgard.’

‘I still don’t understand what this means’, Rogers said, slowly.

‘It means that, with the proper training’, Jemma explained, ‘maybe we could find a way to communicate, to have control over the moments we share.’

‘That would come in handy’, the Captain said after a beat, ‘considering we don’t really have a proper way of contacting Thor. Heimdall doesn’t always answer.’

‘I could help’, the woman said with a thick accent, the first time she spoke.

‘And who are you?’, May asked, somewhat impatiently.

‘Wanda Maximoff. I am an enhanced human.’

Simmons and Fitz moved in sync, turning to her with wide eyes.

‘What’s your power?’, Fitz asked as Jemma asked ‘Who worked on you?’

Wanda blinked. ‘Telekinesis, hypnosis, mind control. Von Strucker.’

‘No’, Fitz said, turning to look at Simmons.

‘She’s an Avengers, Fitz, it’ll be fine, it’s-‘

‘-dangerous, even if you get past the whole Hydra thing. Mind control is-‘

‘A skill, that I’m sure she has perfected and-‘

‘You don’t know that, Jemma.’

‘If Thor trust her, then-‘

‘You’re actually considering this?’

‘It could be helpful! Direct connection to Asgard and-‘

‘It’s your brain! You said it yourself that it’s still a mystery and you want her-‘

‘I’m doing this, Fitz!’

‘We need to-‘

‘Monitor my vitals, yes, and-‘

‘Brain waves and-‘

‘Thor’s too, of course.’

‘And settle on a timeline-‘

‘Yes, Fitz.’

‘Okay.’

When they turned around, the Avengers were all watching them with a very particular expression of shock and overwhelmness, that, unfortunately, Fitz and Simmons were all too accustomed too.

May delicately cleared her throat. ‘We call it FitzSimmons.’

♡

Fitz and Simmons spent a lot of time talking to the Scarlet Witch, gathering as much information about her powers as they could. After a couple of hours, Captain Rogers took pity on her and brought the pair the folders about the twins’ interventions, that they had managed to get from Von Strucker.

After that, the three of them worked together in developing a timetable. They designed a series of tests and goals, that would help Jemma and Thor manage to control their connection.

Honestly, Jemma felt very silly.

They “trained” for hours daily, but the tests were somewhat ridiculous. Simmons understood the science behind it, but it didn’t seem like it was getting anywhere.

Fitz was always by her side, monitoring both her and Thor.

After a week, it felt like they made no progress.

They tried to find common grounds, memories and feelings that were similar, something the other one could relate to. They started with the Chitauri invasion, the fear and panic they felt, but also the determination to help.

When that didn’t work, Wanda encouraged them to look for a stronger emotion. Fitz suggested betrayal.

‘Loki and Ward’, he explained, trying his best to keep his expression neutral.

Things got pretty emotional, pretty fast. Jemma ended up crying in anger, and Thor looked so devastated, it broke her heart.

But for a split second, as Jemma closed her eyes, she saw herself. And so did Thor. For a split second, they managed to make the other one see through their eyes.

Jemma felt incredibly proud.

♡

After that first achievement, everything went on quickly and easily.

They only asked for Wanda’s help once, towards the end, when they wanted to see how much time they could spend sending visions.

Jemma passed out after 30 minutes.

When she woke up, Fitz made her eat a soup bowl filled with icecream.

♡

May left after the first week.

Fitz and Simmons stayed for three more.

They took it like a vacation. Except for the hours they spent with Thor and Wanda, they stood as far away from the labs as possible. So that mostly meant staying in their apartment and taking walks around the grounds.

People gave them space, they mostly interacting only with Wanda and Thor, sometimes Rogers. Twice Stark trying chatting Simmons up, but he was quickly turned down.

One night, Jemma had a lot of energy and she decided on going to the gym, running on a treadmill. Fitz went with her, he never left her side. He didn’t work out, but he stayed with her and they talked.

10 minutes in, Natasha Romanoff walked in. Fitz made some sort of groaning sound, and Jemma almost fell off the treadmill.

Somehow, that evening ended with Jemma taking self defense pointers from the Black Widow, and Fitz facetiming it all with Skye.

After an hour, Natasha gave Simmons a break and turned her critical eye towards Fitz. He blushed furiously under her scrutiny, so much so that Jemma wished she had her phone with her.

‘If you don’t want to fight with me’, Natasha said after ten minutes of unsuccessfully trying to get Fitz to train with her, ‘then fight her’, she pointed at Simmons.

‘Hell no’, Fitz said, with feeling.

‘I’m sure she won’t hurt you’, Natasha smirked. ‘Just go for a round, and I’ll give you advice. Coulson gave us access to your mission reports.’, she raised an eyebrow. ‘You get far more action than an engineer should. Another opinion on your fighting technique wouldn’t hurt, right?’

Fitz just glared.

‘She’s right, you know.’, Jemma said sweetly. ‘Although I’m not so sure you _have_ a fighting technique.’

She was teasing, but Fitz turned to look at her with a very powerful look. Of determination and a bit of smugness.

He put his phone down and took off his shirt and cardigan, leaving him in jeans and an undershirt.

Jemma shared an amused look with Natasha, but she did get up and stood before him.

‘Come on then’, Fitz smiled. ‘Ladies first.’

Jemma went to punch him. Fitz blocked it, easily. So she put a bit more strength in it. He still blocked her, restraining both of her wrists.

‘That was good’, Natasha commented. ‘But Simmons wasn’t really trying. Again.’

Jemma tried punching him again. When that didn’t work, she tried to lift her leg, aiming for his ribs. But Fitz blocked the hit again, grabbing a hold of her leg. And before she realized what was happening, her leg was curled around Fitz’ hip, his thigh was pressed hard to a part of her body he has _never_ touched before, his hands were low on her hips and their faces were very, very close.

‘She could easily take you out now’, Natasha commented.

‘Yup’, Fitz nodded. ‘But she isn’t trying, cause I surprised her.’

And then, Fitz bent the upper half of his body forward. It surprised Jemma, who had to bend backwards in order to avoid a collision. Of their faces. She was blushing, she knew she was, and Fitz’s playful grin wasn’t helping.

Jemma didn’t realize what happened, but Fitz must have shoved her leg or something, because the next thing she was aware of, was falling backwards. Fitz didn’t let her fall, as much as he slowly lowered them to the ground, until Jemma was lying flat on her back and Fitz was looming over her, shit eating grin on his face.

‘Blimey’, was all Jemma managed to wheeze out.

He chuckled and helped her up, turning to Natasha afterwards.

‘I realize that wasn’t very impressive’, he shrugged, ‘but I know that because I’m tiny and virtually incapable of having decent muscles, I have to rely on the element of surprise in a fight. But, I’m also an engineer. A pretty good one, so I can also rely on my tech to get me out of sticky situations.’

‘I like you’, Natasha said after a beat, a hint of a smile on her face.

Once again, Fitz blushed furiously, but he managed to mumble a thank you.

♡

The ability that Simmons and Thor gained was truly incredible. They tested it in all the ways they could, and in the month they practiced, they seemed to have gotten pretty good at it. Everybody was extremely pleased with them.

Fitz admitted, late one night, that he feels better, that something good came out of the time Simmons was away. She had to agree with him.

But the ability to contact Thor in a seconds’ notice wasn’t the only good thing that came out of the Stones incident.

Because the relationship between Jemma and Fitz, it evolved a great amount in their little vacation at Avengers HQ. It wasn’t just that they were as close as they were in their SciOps days. It was more than that, they were even closer than that.

It was wonderful. Fitz made butterflies appear in her stomach. He made her smile, he made her feel safe, he took care of her, they worked perfectly together.

There was still something missing, and Jemma knew exactly what it was. She knew she was going to say something about it, but she didn’t know exactly when.

♡

After they returned to Shield, they saw a lot more of the Avengers. And every time one of them came to “visit” Coulson, they stopped by the lab to say hello to Simmons and Fitz.

When Banner first came, he kind of hid in the lab, spending the time talking to Jemma about what she was working on at the moment. Captain America never lingered much, just made sure they were alright. Natasha insisted they’d have another training session, which they both refused because they were in the middle of somewhat of a crisis, but Jemma was pretty sure everybody on the base had a copy of the footage of May and Natasha beating the crap out of each other and calling it training.

The first time Clint Barton came around, he stared at Simmons for a few very long, awkward seconds. Then, he told her that she was softer than he expected. Fitz didn’t like Clint Barton, and he complained about him a long time after the archer left.

♡

‘So’, Skye said, wiggling her eyebrows. ‘You and Fitz. Did that finally happen, or?’

Jemma blushed, eyes skipping to the other part of the lab, where Fitz was completely engrossed in a book.

‘Not yet’, she said, and Skye’s jaw dropped instantly.

‘You didn’t say no’, Skye said, somewhat reverently.

‘I didn’t say no.’

‘You said _not yet_. Which means it’s going to be a _yes_ in the future.’

Jemma hummed, nodding.

‘That’s huge!’, Skye all but yelled.

‘What’s huge?’, Fitz innocently asked, making both of them freeze.

Skye paled and gaped wordlessly, clearly not coming up with a good enough lie. So Jemma couldn’t pass the opportunity.

She grinned, somewhat mischievously. ‘Do you really want to know the answer to that?’

It took a few seconds, but when Fitz understood the hint, he blushed furiously, and spluttered incoherencies as he all but ran out of the lab.

♡

It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows between the two of them. Because they did fight.

But it was always about their work, and no matter how heated it got, no matter how angry they got, it was always forgotten by morning.

When one of them would ask if they were okay, the other would always say yes.

♡

Jemma thought that the moment Fitz got sick was an important threshold in their relationship.

After a mission in Russia, Fitz got a terrible cold. It was so bad, Jemma feared it was pneumonia and that her equipment was broken.

He had a fever for three days. And because after the coma he couldn’t stand to be in a hospital bed without panicking, Jemma agreed to let him stay in his room. But she barely left his side.

She held him when the fever made him tremble, she fed him when he was too weak to do it himself, she helped him change clothes and clean up, and for those three days, she barely slept.

‘This was weird’, Fitz said hesitantly, after he got better. ‘No matter how good friends we are, you shouldn’t have had to… witness that.’

Jemma’s heart did something painful in her chest upon hearing him say the word “friends”, but she pushed it down.

‘Fitz’, she said slowly, ‘Beyond being your best friend, I am also a doctor. I’m not … squeamish.’

Fitz snorted. ‘I was talking about boundaries.’

‘I didn’t think there were any boundaries left on this team’, she smiled, making him raise an eyebrow.

‘I can’t even remember how many times I walked in on Mack changing’, she rolled her eyes, ‘because that man does not understand the context of a locked door.’

Fitz narrowed his eyes.

‘And’, she went on, ‘there was that one time May got really hurt, kicked in the stomach on a mission, and I had to do a obgyn consult on her.’

Fitz scrunched up his nose.

‘I know Coulson’s body like the back of my hand, considering everything he’s been through.’

Fitz looked mildly disturbed.

‘And I had to shower _with_ Skye a couple of times, because we were in a hurry to leave for a mission.’

Fitz’s blush was a thing of beauty.

‘So, really, Fitz.’, Jemma smiled, ‘having to change you out of your trousers a couple of times was nothing.’

‘Plus’, she giggled, ‘our boundaries have always been… more soft lines than sharp edges.’

He blushed even harder at that, but then he shook his head, kissed her cheek, and went back to work.

♡

Jemma knew she had to be the one to say something.  It was her turn, after all.

She tried to wait for a moment, for something to happen, but it didn’t come.

So she stopped waiting.

Today was going to be the day Jemma was going to say something to Fitz, after work. She didn’t know what she was going to say, but she was going to say it.

♡

Of course, this was their life.

So everything went to hell after lunch.

Jemma felt a familiar rush of energy through her spine, and she had just enough time to grab the edge of her desk tightly.

She closed her eyes, and while she expected to find herself in the Asgardian palace, she found herself on a battle field.

Thor was in the middle of a fight, Jemma could feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins, but also the fear and exhaustion. It took a few moments, for her to stop focusing on his feelings, and actually look at what he was seeing.

They were in a middle of a large field, and the Asgardians were fighting … orcs. To Jemma, they looked like the orcs from Lord of the Rings. But as she looked a bit more closely, she saw that their eyes were red, that they bled black blood, that they had vampire like teeth and-

One of them sank his teeth into Thor’s forearm, and Jemma _felt him scream_. Then, she saw Sif decapitating the orc, and she saw blood spurt, and she felt it splashing her face, and then she felt her mouth move, and heard Thor’s voice.

‘Doctor Simmons’, he yelled somewhat desperately. ‘Contact the Captain. Tell him to gather his troops. Asgard is in need of assistance. Heimdall will be waiting for Steve’s word.’

He repeated the same thing three times, not once stopping in his fight. Thor wanted to make sure she got the message, Jemma absently thought.

When the connection was lost, Jemma found herself on the floor of the lab, on her knees, screaming. Fitz was right in front of her, looking just as bad as he looked before Jemma jumped out the plane.

The second she stopped screaming, his hands were on her neck.

‘Thor’, she managed to breathe out. ‘He’s in danger. I need to talk to Steve.’

Fitz looked to his right, telling someone to tell Coulson, but Jemma wasn’t able to turn to see who he was talking to. Then Fitz gathered her in his arms, and even though she wanted nothing more than to stay there forever, she knew she couldn’t.

‘I need to tell Cap’, she said, pushing Fitz away slightly.

He nodded and helped her up, wordlessly stirring her towards Coulson’s office. Fitz never took his hand off her, and he shielded her from the people that were staring as they passed.

In Coulson’s office, there was a video feed with Steve already opened.

‘Holy god, Simmons’, the Captain breathed out. ‘I though you said the connection wasn’t physical.’

‘It’s not’, Jemma shook her head as Fitz gently pushed her down into a chair.

‘Than why do you look like you’ve been through a grinder?’

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

‘Asgard is under attack. Thor needs help. He asks you to gather the troops. Heimdall is waiting for your word.’

The Captain clenched his jaw, nodding to someone on the side of the camera. When he looked back at Jemma, it was with a powerful flame in his eyes.

‘What are we dealing with?’

‘Monsters’, Jemma answered far too quickly.

The Captain wasn’t impressed. ‘It’s not the first time, Dr. Simmons. Could you possible narrow it down a bit?’

Fitz’s hand tightened on her shoulder.

‘They look like orcs, sir.’, Jemma said, slowly.

‘Like… Lord of the Rings?’, Rogers frowned.

‘Yes. With vampire teeth.’

The captain winced. ‘How bad is it?’

‘I don’t… there’s a field. It’s… out in the open, no shelter or tall structures around. I don’t know numbers, I haven’t seen that much.’

‘How bad is it?’, Rogers asked again, a bit softer this time.

Jemma shivered, and Fitz instantly took off his jumper and wrapped it around her shoulder.

‘I can’t tell how bad it actually is, sir’, Jemma started by saying. ‘Because I don’t …. I’m not used to being in the middle of a fight like that. You know how, when this happens, we see through the other one’s eyes?’

The captain nodded.

‘I saw one of them sinking his teeth into Thor, and I felt it. And I saw Sif decapitating it, and I felt the blood splashing my face. And Thor, he’s… Not hurt, but… He’s scared, Captain.’

Rogers swore, violently.

‘Thank you, Simmons. I have to go.’

‘Please’, she rushed out, ‘you’ll let us know when you come back, yes? Please?’

‘Of course’, Rogers nodded. Then, his eyes skipped to Fitz and Coulson. ‘Take care of her.’

Then the screen was black and Fitz was once again dragging her away, this time to her room. He shut the door behind them and handed Jemma her pajama, rummaging through her dresser until he found his blue jumper.

Fitz turned his back while she changed, and then asked her if she wanted him to leave.

‘I really don’t’, Jemma breathed out, and when he turned around, Fitz was smiling slightly.

When she got under the covers on the bed, Fitz stood on top of them, only pausing to take off his shoes. Jemma snuggled up to him, and he didn’t hesitate in wrapping his arms around her. After a moment, he started gently running his fingers through her hair.

‘You’re shaking’, he said softly. ‘Maybe you should take something.’

‘No’, Jemma quickly answered. ‘I’ll be fine if you keep doing that.’

Fitz snorted, but he did as asked.

‘I don’t know why I’m like this’, she said after a few minutes.

‘Maybe it’s the fact that you got a first person perspective to a fight with evil alien orcs’, Fitz deadpanned.

‘Still’, Jemma insisted. ‘I’m a field agent.’

‘Yes, but you’re not a combat agent’, he told her softly. ‘And you… You told Cap that you _felt_ what Thor felt. That’s… horrible.’

‘Yeah’, she agreed. ‘I just hope it counts.’

‘They’ll be okay’, Fitz said quickly. ‘They always are.’

♡

They didn’t go back to work that day, and Fitz stayed in her room. In her bed. With his arms around her.

Jemma was too anxious to properly think about it.

They were woken up the next morning by Coulson’s voice, telling them that Doctor Banner was waiting for them in his office.

Jemma didn’t even bother getting dressed. Or putting on shoes. She just jumped off the bed and all but ran to Coulson’s office. Fitz was right behind her.

Doctor Banner looked exhausted, but there was a smile on his face.

‘Everything is fine’, he said when Jemma and Fitz ran into the office. ‘We’re all alright, and Asgard is safe.’

‘Oh thank god’, Jemma breathed out, leaning till her back connected with Fitz’s chest.

‘Thor is busy dealing with the aftermath’, Banner went on. ‘That’s why he couldn’t make it to thank you in person.’

Jemma shook her head, opening her mouth to say something, but the other doctor cut her off.

‘But he did want me to give you something.’

‘What?’, Jemma frowned as Banner kept moving towards her. Then, he opened his arms expectedly and Jemma giggled. But Fitz pushed her gently forward, and she gladly accept a hug from the Hulk, who, she found, was actually a very soft man.

When they let go of each other, Banners’ eyes skipped from her to Fitz a couple of times, from their faces to her pajamas and his very rumpled jeans.

‘You should go back to sleep’, he said in a very amused tone, and Jemma saw Coulson failing to repress a smile. She blushed, but she also took Fitz’s hand and headed back to her bunk.

♡

Jemma was a ball of nerves for the whole of the next day. Fitz picked up on it, of course he did, but he didn’t really insist, which she was thankful for.

As they shut down everything in the lab at the end of the day, she grabbed a hold of Fitz’s hand, an action she did once before, months ago in a locker room.

‘Fitz’, she said softly, ‘we’re okay, right?’

He just looked at her for a few seconds. But then he sighed and properly intertwined their fingers.

‘The world is so wrong, Jemma.’, he started by slowly saying. ‘It’s filled with so many bad things. But, honestly, I … I don’t think we have ever been as good as we are now.’

She smiled, relief rushing through her body.

‘In that case’, she smiled, ‘you owe me dinner.’

He clearly didn’t understand, judging by the way he frowned.

‘Somewhere nice’, she added, making Fitz freeze for a couple of seconds. Jemma bit her lip in anticipation, and his eyes caught the movement.

‘Right’, he said slowly. ‘Okay.’

Then he took his hand out of her hold and all but ran out of the lab.

Jemma wasn’t really worried.

♡

Five minutes later, when she was walking towards her room, Coulson’s voice bloomed over the base’s announcement system.

‘Agents Skye and Mackenzie, you owe Agent May and I 20 bucks.’

Jemma stopped walking. 30 seconds later, Skye came out of nowhere, running and screaming, heading straight towards her.

Skye hugged her tightly, almost knocking Jemma off her feet.

‘What’s going on?’, she managed to wheeze out.

‘You’re telling me _everything_ later, okay? Every little thing!’

Then she was off, leaving a very confused Jemma behind.

♡

Before she got to her room, Fitz caught up with her. His cheeks were incredibly red and he was breathing heavily.

‘Wheels up in 2 hours’, he said, and Jemma frowned.

‘To dinner’, Fitz said, somewhat reverently. ‘Somewhere nice.’

Jemma thought she never smiled as widely in her life.

♡

Her nerves got the best of her, quickly, so Jemma caved in and called Skye.

Jemma found it very easy to talk to Skye, tell her what happened, and her fears about what’s going to happen. Skye managed to calm her down, just a bit, just enough for Jemma to get excited.

When it came to clothes, Skye wanted Jemma to wear a dress that she forgot she even had, a red number that showed way too much skin. Jemma refused, arguing that Fitz has seen her at her best and at her worst.

‘And what was your best and worst?’, Skye asked curiously.

‘His sister’s wedding.’, Jemma smiled. ‘The first time he saw me in a short dress and heels.’

‘Fair enough’, Skye smirked, eyes on Jemma’s chest. ‘What about your worst?’

‘My grandmother’s funeral. And’, she winced, ‘the puking fest and hangover that followed our graduation from the Academy.’

In the end, Jemma wore a simple black dress, that stopped just above her knees, and while it had a conservative line, it hugged her curves nicely. She knew Fitz liked it, he always complimented her when she wore it. She put on a pair of black flats and a dark gray cardigan, and grabbed a small yellow purse that barely fit her phone and essentials.

The only thing she did differently was to put on a pink stain on her lips. It was brighter than what she would normally wear.

‘Are you sure you’re not pregnant?’, Skye asked. ‘Cause you’re glowing.’

Jemma blushed, which only got Skye to coo more.

‘Am I crazy?’

‘Yup.’, Skye answered without hesitation. ‘Totally.’ When Jemma glared at her, the woman shrugged. ‘Oh, you mean about going out on a date with Fitz after years of being perfectly perfect for each other? Yeah, I think you are crazy. If you don’t pack some condoms.’

Jemma wanted to retort, but her phone signaled a text from Fitz.

_Do you want me to pick you up? Or meet in the garage?_

She was too embarrassed to have him pick her up. Because that meant that they’d walk through the whole facility together, surrounded by prying eyes and people who loved to gossip. So she agreed to meet him in the garage.

♡

Fitz was wearing black jeans, that were a bit tighter than what he normally goes for, a dark blue button down and a matching cardigan on top. His hair was neatly arranged, and his stubble looked tidy.

Jemma’s breath was caught somewhere in her throat. And when he turned around fully and looked at her, she really had no idea how she will be able to ever breathe again.

Fitz was the one who broke the silence, his eyes skipping to her bag.

‘You don’t happen to have any anti-anxiety medication in that wee thing, do you?’

‘This is ridiculous’, Jemma shook her head. ‘We’ve known each other for a decade.’

‘But this is different’, Fitz took a few steps forward, stopping in front of her.

‘It is’, she agreed. ‘But we’re still being ridiculous.’

He tilted his head to the side. ‘The brain is still mysterious.’

‘So is the heart’, the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

Fitz didn’t maintain eye contact, but he did take another small step forwards.

‘Not so much anymore, no.’

Then, he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and grabbed her hand, urging them towards a black nondescript car. He held the door open for her and made sure she had the seatbelt on before driving away and Jemma couldn’t stop smiling, her heart threatening to dance out of her chest.

♡

He didn’t tell her where they were going, no matter how much she tried to get the information out of him.

‘So’, he sighed, changing the topic for the 5th time, ‘how much of a menace was Skye?’

‘Should I be scared’, Jemma frowned, ‘that you know us that well?’

‘Nope’, Fitz snorted. ‘But we both should be scared that we missed the whole bet they had going on.’

‘Oh’, Jemma blinked. ’20 bucks. To Coulson and May.’, she recalled the announcement the Director made over the comms earlier that evening. ‘That was about us?’

‘Yup’, he blushed. ‘So, Skye?’

‘She was alright. Helped me calm down, actually’, Jemma smiled but refused to look at him. ‘She also wanted me to wear the sluttiest dress I have, so-‘

‘This is not the sluttiest dress you have.’, he didn’t miss a beat in answering.

Her head snapped to him, glaring. Fitz blinked a couple of times, blushing, but he didn’t look at her.

‘That might have been rude.’, he finally said. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Uh-huh’, she faked being unimpressed. ‘But you are right.’

There was a pause. ‘I’m kinda sad now’, he said playfully, ‘that you didn’t wear the sluttiest dress you have.’

This was new. This wasn’t just teasing, this was flirting and Fitz was instigating it. A whole new type of excitement took over her.

‘Don’t think too much of yourself’, Jemma teased back, making him snort.

‘No, but’, she turned a bit more serious, ‘in all honestly. I told Skye, that you saw me at my best and at my worst. I didn’t feel like I needed to put a lot of effort into my clothes. Which is a rude thing to say on a date, but why should I transform myself into someone I’m not? You already know me, I don’t need to impress you.’

Fitz was silent for a few moments, but as they stopped at a light, he turned to look at her with a smile on his face.

‘After the 5th time I changed my clothes’, he blushed, ‘Mack asked me if I’d have any problem with you showing up in yoga pants and a jersey. After I told him that it didn’t matter… I didn’t change my clothes again.’

‘Wise man, that Mack fellow’, Jemma smiled. ‘You look good, though’, she lowered her voice a bit. ‘I always liked you in blue.’

He stared at her for a few long seconds, making her blush, but as he opened his mouth to say something, there was a loud honk. The light had turned green, so Fitz drove away, and the rest of the drive was silent. It wasn’t uncomfortable, though.

♡

The car stopped in front of an old movie theater, that looked like it hadn’t changed since the 60s. There were a couple of posters, showing movies that were ‘now playing’, but Fitz shook his head when he saw her looking, saying that they weren’t going to any of them.

‘I thought we were going to dinner’, Jemma frowned, even if she didn’t really mind the change of plans.

Fitz just smirked. ‘Wait for it.’

He held her hand as they went to the ticket desk, where he smiled at the young man behind the glass and said ‘Reservation for FitzSimmons.’

Jemma snorted, pushing her cheek to his shoulder.

The teenager narrowed his eyes. ‘Is that really a name?’

‘It’s two names’, Fitz said, easily.

‘Fitz’, Jemma pointed at him, ‘Simmons’, she pointed at herself.

The young man pulled her face. ‘I don’t know if that’s adorable or disturbing.’

‘Both’, Fitz shrugged. ‘Now can we get our tickets?’

As he paid, the young man told them the rules. Because, apparently, this theater had rules. No loud talking or screaming, no phones, no bathroom breaks unless it’s an emergency, no pillow fights and no sex. Jemma was very confused. Then, he said that the entrance was through the alleyway in the back.

‘Is this dangerous?’, she couldn’t help but ask. ‘This feels dangerous. I only have an icer.’

Fitz stopped, dead in his tracks, turning his head to look her up and down.

‘Where?’

Jemma blushed, but she wordlessly pointed at her thigh.

Fitz shook his head and started walking again. ‘It’s not dangerous, it’s just something new.’

‘What?’

‘Just wait and see, Simmons’, he sighed. ‘We’re literally twenty feet away, can’t you wait for twenty more feet?’

She pouted. ‘You’re lucky you’re pretty.’

Fitz blushed.

♡

It wasn’t a normal theater room. It was a lot smaller, and it didn’t have any chairs. Instead it had and a lot of pillows and bean bags scattered on the floor, around low tables.

Fitz directed them to the back of the room, where they chose to sit on a pile of pillows, supported by the wall. They both stretched their feet under the table, and Jemma looked around to see that there were only 10 other people in the room, couples, by the look of it, ages varying.

‘I’m very confused’, she admitted, making Fitz laugh.

‘Now that’s something I don’t hear any day.’

‘I’m very comfortable, though’, she felt the need to add, digging her fingers in the very plush carpet under her.

Fitz beamed. ‘They should bring the food in 5 minutes or so.’

‘And we’re watching a movie?’

‘Yes’, he smiled. ‘But I’m not telling you which one.’

Jemma sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to get the information out of him. So she took his hand again, and leaned against his shoulder.

‘So this is different’, he said after a few silent moments, squeezing her fingers.

‘Not bad, I hope.’, she smiled.

‘Not bad’, Fitz agreed. ‘Just different.’

‘On the day we met’, Jemma said around a grin, ‘you told me you didn’t like change.’

There was a pause. ‘And a month later, I changed half of my classes. Plus, you know as well as I do, an engineer has to embrace change in order to innovate. I don’t think-‘

‘I’m just teasing, Fitz.’, she chuckled. ‘You get bored without change.’

‘You were always more afraid of it than I was.’, he said after a beat, and she knew he was talking about his and Skye’s transitioning phase.

‘Not anymore’, she finally said, just as ten men dressed in the theaters' uniform came into the room.'

A few minutes later, the table in front of them was filled with food. Fries, nuggets, fish fingers, vegetables, onion rings. Popcorn, chocolate cake, cheesecake, pretzels and a plate of fresh fruit. There were also several sodas, a couple of beers and a bottle of wine.

The lights turned off, but there was a little light coming from under the table, just enough so they could see what they were eating, without disrupting the movie.

‘Nice?’, Fitz asked, and she heard the uncertainty in his voice.

‘Pretty damn nice’, she agreed, making him grin.

Then, the movie started, and Jemma was delighted to see it was The Wizard of Oz.

‘I haven’t seen this in forever.’, she admitted.

‘Good. Because, honestly, it was either this or Titanic. And I didn’t really want us to spend our first date crying.’

Jemma giggled, wordlessly agreeing with him, and then she piled her plate with fries.

♡

Jemma expected him to make a move, in the darkness of the theater.

But after they finished eating, and settled back against the pillows to watch the movie, Fitz just linked their fingers again. Still, she felt like he was too far away, so she huddled closer to him, as close as she could without sitting in his lap. Jemma rested her head on his shoulder and he squeezed her fingers in retaliation.

They both seemed content to silently watch the movie. It really was one of her favorite films, and she always watched it when she needed a pick me up. She didn’t know if Fitz was aware of this or not, but she didn’t really care, not when she realized that he was mouthing the lines, as the actors were saying it.

It warmed her heart. So Jemma didn’t stop herself, from angling her head up and pressing a feather-like kiss on his jaw.

‘What was that for?’, Fitz tensed.

‘For being adorable.’

He turned to look at her with a look of exasperation. ‘Watch the movie, Simmons.’

She giggled.

♡

They didn’t head back to the car after the movie finished. Instead, Fitz took her hand and they walked a couple of blocks, until they got to a Starbucks.

‘Do we really need coffee?’, Jemma frowned. ‘We’re still not sleeping enough.’

Fitz didn’t answer, he just raised an eyebrow and ordered them hot chocolate.  They found a park nearby, which was deserted because of the late hour. So they sat down on a bench, Fitz crossing his feet on it, Jemma once again snuggling to his side.

‘You’re cuddly’, he commented, amusement clear on his face.

‘You’re very warm’, she replied, feeling herself blush. ‘Do you mind?’

‘No’, he shrugged. ‘I was just making an observation, you were never one for showing your affections.’

‘Well’, she wanted to change the subject, ‘I observed that we didn’t talk about work at all tonight.’

‘That’s true’, he frowned. ‘I … didn’t think we’d be able to pull that off.’

Jemma laughed. ‘The night’s not over yet.’

‘Don’t challenge me’, Fitz teased. ‘You know I can’t step back from that.’

‘Okay, okay’, she snickered. ‘No work talk.’

They were silent for the next minutes, but as they finished their coffee, neither of them seemed to want to leave the park.

So Jemma gathered all the courage she had, turning around on the bench, until she could throw her legs over Fitz’s. He seemed surprised, but moved quickly to accommodate her. He hesitantly put his hands over her knees, holding them gently so they wouldn’t slip.

Jemma smiled, once again leaning her head forward until she could rest it on his shoulder.

‘Are you cold?’, he asked, and she quickly shook her head.

‘No, I just seem to have developed an incapability of sitting next to you without touching you.’

‘Why, Doctor Simmons!’, he faked shock. ‘Are you hitting on me?’

‘Yes’, she nodded seriously. ‘Is that going to be a problem?’

‘It will be if you stop’, he said just as seriously, and they giggled together for a while.

‘Hey, Jemma. We’re okay, right?’

She smiled softly, looking into his eyes. ‘It would appear so.’

‘And…’, he took a deep breath.  ‘ _This_ is really happening?’

‘Yes’, Jemma answered quickly.

There was a pause from Fitz, his eyes skipping to the place where his hands were on her legs.

‘I didn’t ever think it would.’

‘Me neither’, she had to agree. ‘We might have been the only ones to think that, though.’

That got a chuckle out of Fitz.

‘You know what Coulson’s first reaction was? When I asked for a car and told him it was for our date?’

‘To collect his winnings from the team?’, Jemma raised an eyebrow.

Fitz shook his head. ‘That was after he tried to gave me the _if you hurt her_ talk.’

‘Awh’, Jemma couldn’t help but coo. ‘That’s so sweet.’

Fitz nodded.

‘Wait’, she narrowed her eyes. ‘He _tried?_ ’

‘Yup’, Fitz grinned. ‘I interrupted him, because anything he had to say couldn’t have been worse than what your dad told me when I was 17.’

‘What?’, Jemma screeched. ‘He what?’

Fitz chuckled. ‘It was after you brought me home for Christmas. Honestly, I don’t remember much of what he said, exactly, it was quite mortifying. I do remember running out of the room when he wanted to give me condoms, though.’

‘Oh, my’, Jemma’s cheeks were on fire. ‘They’re going to have a fit now.’

‘Yeah they will’, Fitz’s eyes grew wide. ‘I’m pretty sure my sister is gonna fly across the ocean just so she can smack our heads.’

Jemma laughed, despite herself. ‘We’ll deal with it together.’

♡

The drive back was silent, but their fingers were tangled over the gear shift. As they were getting closer to their destination, Jemma asked Fitz to stop the car at a service stop on the side of the highway.

She was out of the car before it stopped completely, but she didn’t move far away, just to the front of the car, where she leaned against the hood.

‘What’s wrong?’, Fitz was concerned.

‘Nothing’, she was quick to assure, grabbing a hold of his hand. ‘It’s just that… they’re our friends, and I do love them, but they love to meddle.’

He narrowed his eyes. ‘You think they’ll be waiting for us to get back?’

‘I’d bet money on it.’, Jemma sighed. ‘And I didn’t want to say goodbye around all of them.’

Fitz narrowed his eyes again, a hint of violence sparkling in them. ‘We’re not saying goodbye. We’re saying goodnight.’

She had to smile at that. Fitz smiled back, taking another step forward, until they were very close, her back against the car and his feet between hers.

‘I really had fun tonight’, he said somewhat hesitantly.

‘It was lovely’, she agreed, bravely moving her free hand to his chest. ‘I wouldn’t be opposed to it happening again.’

Fitz smiled, ducking his head. ‘Good’, was all he said.

Jemma used her fingers to gently lift his head up, making him look at her again.

‘But’, she felt the need to say, ‘we don’t need to make a habit out of it. I’m more than happy with mac and cheese from a box and watching movies in one of our bunks.’

Fitz breathed a huge sigh, putting a hand around the back of her neck and resting their foreheads together. She had to close her eyes, they were too close to be able to focus anymore.

‘This is really happening’, he said somewhat shakily.

‘You still don’t believe it?’

He shook his head slowly, hers moving along with it. Jemma took a deep breath, and moved until her hands were on his waist. She pulled him forward, and he came without hesitation, relaxing in her arms.

After a few moments, of sharing heat and breathing in his cologne, she nudged his head with her nose. He quickly understood, and Jemma didn’t meet any hesitation.

When their lips touched, fireworks didn’t go off. There wasn’t an explosion, there wasn’t the desperation and hunger she expected to feel.

Instead, it was like a great amount of pressure was eased from her shoulders. She felt light, like she could lift off the ground and fly away.

She felt Fitz sigh against her mouth, and it made her stomach flip. So Jemma tilted her head a bit, so they could deepen the kiss. The sound Fitz made when her tongue flicked to tease over his lips, this whining sound of desperation, Jemma will never forget it.

So she pulled back from him, just so she could push herself up on the hood of the car. His eyes grew impossibly wide at that, and he brokenly stammered out her name, but Jemma was nothing if not insistent.

She grabbed hold of him again, pulling at his jumper, and he came along. Still in shock, it seemed, but he didn’t resist. Fitz slotted himself between her legs easily, but it’s wasn’t… it wasn’t overly sexual, not really.

Not when he kissed her slowly, sweetly, with a hand in her curls and the other drawing circles on her knee.

But this was Fitz, and Fitz was an extremely fast learner. He took no time in finding out what she liked, reading her reactions like an open book. So after a few minutes of making out like teenagers, Jemma boldly let her hands slide lower, until she could cup Fitz’s backside.

He groaned, leaning back to look at her with his eyes wide open, want flashing through them, visible even in the low light.

‘Seriously’, Jemma said, a bit breathlessly, ‘you should wear these jeans more often.’

‘We should probably head back’, Fitz said hesitantly, but she knew he was right. So Jemma got off of the car, but she didn’t let Fitz move until she gave him one last kiss.

♡

‘Leo, would you please get me the samples from yesterday?’

After Jemma said this, everybody around them froze. And there were quite a high number of people, considering their whole team was in their lab, waiting for the results of some tests.

‘You called him Leo’, Skye said in an awed voice.

‘That is his name, yes’, Jemma said, slowly, not understanding what the problem was.

‘And you’ll be screaming it later?’, Mack raised an eyebrow, which got him a kick to the shin from Fitz.

‘They’re just not used to it’, he explained to Jemma, as he handed her the samples she asked for. ‘You usually call me Fitz when we’re working.’

Jemma shrugged, unperturbed. The team was pretty accepting towards their new relationship, but Skye confided in her, telling her that from what they could see, not much has changed.

And that was true, because Fitz wasn’t too keen on PDAs. He never declined a kiss, snog or cuddle if it was just the two of them, but when they were in public, it was just fingers brushing quickly when passing by or hand holding if they were walking side by side.

Jemma didn’t mind it, he was far less distracting if he wasn't being romantic.

‘So you get together’, Mack said, ‘and there’s no more FitzSimmons? It’s… LeoJemma?’

‘Lema’, Skye said instantly. ‘Or Jemmo.’

‘You know’, Coulson said in a voice of authority, ‘there’s a part of the Shield Agent rulebook that-‘

‘Article 34, Paragraph 7’, Fitz and Jemma said at the same time, making Coulson raise an eyebrow.

‘We’ve heard it from all of our professors at the Academy’, Jemma explained. ‘Twice.’

‘What’s it about?’, Skye asked.

‘Agents are not allowed to date, basically’, Jemma said.

‘There can be exceptions, though’, Fitz continued. ‘There’s a series of tests the couple have to go through and a comity decides if they’re allowed to date or not. And, sir’, he turned to Coulson, ‘with all due respect, we could’ve passed those tests even when we weren’t dating.’

The team stared at Fitz, for a while, but Jemma smiled. She was proud of him, even if she wasn’t sure why. So she stood on her toes and pressed a quick kiss to his check. Skye _awwwwwh_ ed and Mack groaned, but all Jemma cared about was the beautiful way Fitz blushed.

‘Very well’, Coulson said with a hint of amusement. ‘Carry on, FitzSimmons.’

♡

The morning after the first time Fitz slept in Jemma’s room, there was a cake in the kitchen, with a post it with their names on it, and  _congratulations on the sex_ written in pink frosting.

They never found out who was to blame for that.


End file.
